Lathe



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W. E. INGHAM Filed Sept. 2. 1921 .vm mm April 28, 1925.

L53 W. E. BNGHAM LATI-IE Filed Sept. 2, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2specification, 4?? of--my mven Patented, Apr. 28, vwas.

uNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER E. INGHAM, OF NEWINGTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIISGNOR. T0 PRATT &WHITNEY COMPANY, OF NEW\YORI N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

LATHE.

Application led September 2, 1921'. Serial vltd-498,151.

. To all 'whom it 'may concern:

' y Be it known that I, WALTER E. INGHAM, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Newingtomin the county of Hartford and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inLathes, of

which the following is a specification.

This Iinvention relates to lathes and particularly to improvements inthe carriage and apron mechanism thereof. The priy.mary object of theinvention is accordingly to generally improve the construction o-f latheapron mechanisms.

Y It is an object of the invention to provide an'improved interlockingmeans between the carriage feed shaft and feed screw whereby both suchelements cannot be in driving engagement simultaneously. f

It is another object` of the invention t0 support the tool operatingworms on the :feed shaft in an improved mannen A further object of theinvention is to provide aclutch onthe carriage traversing rack pinionshaft whereby such pinion may be disengaged from `its operating handwheel when desired.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved lubricatingsystem inthe carriage and apron mechanism whereby the bearings therein'are at all times supplied with clean lubricant from a central closedoil supply. With these and other objects in view, my invention consistsin the features of construction and operation set forth in the followingspecification and illustrated in the accompanying cil1awin, g,'s. ,y "Insuchdrawings annexed hereto and forming a-ipart of this I have shown oneembodiment Vtion as applied toa lathe, but 1t will be understood thattheY-inveton can be otherwise embodied and that-,fthe draw- "tbecnstrued asl defining or 'pezof the invention, the di to thisspecification being Vg he gures of the drawings: 1.is''frontr-elevati'on of a lathe vcarriage r`and lapron mechanismcomprising the: invention. f 4

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view thereof on the line 2.2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horiz ntal sectional view on the line 3 -3 of Fig. 1.

thereof on the line 1 4 of Fig. 3.

-in the well known manner.

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinaly section 55 Fig. 5 is an end viewthereof on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Flg. 6 isa fragmentary sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 1and'illustrating z. feature ofthe improved lubricating sysem. v

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary detail view of Fig:"'7.

Referring more specifically to the,draw ings by reference characters, 1indicatesa tool carriage longitudinally slidable on ways 2 of the lathebed. A cross slide 3y is transversely movable on a guidewayfl on thecarriage and is adapted to support a tool thereon, as illustrated. Theapron mechamsm 5 is secured to the carriage by means of bolts 5. Thecarriage may be\ moved longitudinall on Ways 2 under power either bymeans 0 a @screw 6 or a feed shaft 7 mounted in the' apron and suitablyoperated The feed shaft 7 is also adapted to operate the cross S9 slideby means of a screw 8 and mechanism hereinafter described. The carriagemay -be clamped to the bed'by clamping mechanism 9. A rod 10,` adaptedto be operated by a stop 11 or a handle 12, is provided for controllingthe operation of screw 6 and fee-d shaft 7. The means and manner ofoperating" the 'several elements just described is more fully disclosedin my copending application Serial No. 513,167, led November 5, 1921.

A pair of worms 13 and 14 are splined to the feed shaft and engage wormwheels 15 and 16 respectively for moving the carriage longitudinally andthe tool slide transverse- 1y. It should be noted that these yWorms haveintegral bearing ends 13, 13b and 14a, 111 rotatablysupported in bearingsupports 17 and 18 'in the carriage whereby s uch worms are renderedstronger and more able to perform.y their driving function. By thussupporting the worms directly in the bearings 17 and 18, the Worms arealways held in true driving alignment and the worm ends provide bearingsupports for the 105 feed shaft and prevent the usual wear of thebearings due to the rotation of the splined` feed shaft. therein. Anadjustable bushing 19 is secured in the carriage against one -the shaftproviding means for operatively connecting the Worm to the shaft.` Aknob 22 on a shaft 23 extending through the shaft and threaded] engaging-the clutch at 24 provides means or opening and closing the clutch. 'Theshaft 20 may be rotated by hand from a hand wheel 25 keyed thereto. Apinion 26 keyed to shaft 20 meshes with a gear 27 keyed to a sleeve 28slidable on a shaft 29. A pinion 30 on shaft 29 operatively cngages arack 31 on the lathe, bed whereby the carriage may be movedlongitudinally. The sleeve 28 and a sleeve 32 keyed to the pinion shaftare provided with clutch teeth on their adjacent ends whereby the'pinion 30 may be engaged to and disengaged from this shaft. A rotanvknob 33 mounted on shaft 29 and threadedly engaging sleeve 28 providesmeans for sliding the sleeve for vengaging and disengaging the pinionclutch. 5

The worm wl1eel 16 is loosely mounted on a shaft 34, a friction clutch35 splined to the shaft providing means for operatively connecting theworm wheel to the shaft. A knob 36 on a shaft l37 extending through theshaft 34 and threadedly engaging the clutch at 38 provides means foropening and closing the clutch. A gear 39 keyed to shaft 34 meshes witha gear 40 in mesh with a pinion 41 on the cross slide screw 8.

When the clutch 21 is closed, the carriage l may be moved longitudinallyfrom the feed `shaft 7 and when the clutch 35 is closed the the plate tomove the elements into and out of engagement with the screw.

I prefer to provide an interlock between the clutch 21 and the split nutfor the purpose of preventing the simultaneous driv- A rodi' ingengagement of these elements. has a pin 51 at one end thereof slidablyengaging in an inclined slot 52 in a plate on the nut element' 43. Anelement 53 on the other end of the rod is adapted to engage in anannular groove 54 in the clutch 21. With the clutch 21 closed, as in'Fig. 3, it will be noted that the groove 54 is out of alignment with theelement 53 and therefore the rod cannot slide to the right.

The split nut is necessarily open at this time and cannot be closeduntil the clutch is opened. These respective positions of the severalelements are illustrated in Fig. 4. The pin 51 is in the upper end ofslot 52. Movement of the element .53 upwardly to close the nut mustnecessarily slide the rod to the right. Such action, however, cannottake place until the clutch 21 is open and the groove 54 opposite theelement 53. l-Vhen the clutchl is opened, by sliding the samelongitudinally, the groove 54 comes opposite the element 53 whereby theelement may enter the groove thus permitting the rod toslide to theright and the nut to be engaged with the screw. It will furthermore benoted that when the nut is engaged with the screw, the element 53 is inengagement with the groove 54 whereby the clutch cannot be movedlongitudinally to engage the same.

1t will be seen that improved mechanism is provided herein for feedingor traversing the carriage by hand or automatically and for feeding ortraversing the tool slide auto.- matically. Improved interlockingmechanism is'also provided for preventing the simultaneous drivingengagement of the carriage feed screw and feed shaft. Then operating thecarriage automatically, it is desirable to disengage the carriage handoperating means. This operation can be readily performed by rotating theknob 33 to disengage the rack pinion clutch.

For the purpose of properly lubricating the several apron shaft bearingswithout the use, of tubes, oil cups and other complicating mechanismoften used lfor performing this function, I form the carriage and apronmechanism in the novel manner now to be described. I prefcrably providetwo reservoirs 55 and 56 in the body portion of the carria e and apronmechanism, such reservoirs being relatively spaced and located adjacentthe ends of the carriage. As

illustrated these reservoirs comprise recesses formed within theadjacent faces of the carriage 'and apron mechanism at 55, 55? and 56,56", these parts being securely bolted together. A duct 57 is formed inthe apron and extends longitudinally of the carriage into communicationwith bot-h reservoirs through ducts 58 and 59. The reservoirs may befilled through a filler hole 6() in the reservoir 55, such hole beingadapted to be closed bv a threaded 'plug 61. The reservoir 56 isprovided with an overflow hole 62 whereby the operator may know whenboth reservoirs are full.

The apron 5 is preferably provided with an integral rib 63 over eachshaft bearing vtherein and a duct 64 is formed within such rib wherebycommunication between the main duct 57 and the bearings is provided. Afelt pad 65 is inserted at the top of each duct Glto prevent the oilfrom flowing too,A

rapidly to the bearings.

In operation, the reservoirs are filled through the opening 60, theoverflow hole 62 indicating when the reservoirs are full. lhe oil fromthe two reservoirs passes through the ducts 58 and 59 and into the duct57 and gradually seeps through the felt pads into ducts 64; to lubricatethe several bearings. It will be noted that the entire lubricatirnarsystem is entirely enclosed within the body portion ofthe mechanismwhereby the bearings arey at all times provided -with clean lubricant,any objectionable lprojection of parts is eliminated and the systemcannot become brokenor out of order so long as clean lubricant issupplied to the reservoirs.

It will be understood that in thread cutting operations, the toolcarriage is fed alongl the bed by means of the lead screw ti. Such acutting operation ordinarily requires several repeating cuts of the toolalong the work and, ot eourse,'vat the end of each cut, the carriage andtool must be returned to the initial starting position to begin anothereut. (lrdinarily, at the end of a cut. along the work., the nut elements#l2 and 43 are disengaged from the lead screw 6 and the carriagereturned manually by means of the hand wheel .25 and its mechanismcooperating with the rack 3l. After disengagmg the nut elements from thescrew and moving the carriage back to its initial position, the saidelements must be re-engaged with the screw for performing the next cut.Such re-engagement may be made by grasping the handle 49 to close thenut elements onto the lead screw and then adjusting the carriage one Wayor the other until the nut elements re-engage the screw. I provide thefollowing described improved means, however, whereby the screw may bereadily and quickly reengaged with the carriage in its initial positionwithout requiring any such adjusting or justifying operation.

lVithin a horizontal bore 66 formed in an end wall of the carriage, Imount an elongated element 67, `such element being held within the boreby means of a head 68 on one end thereof and a piece 69 pinned to itsother end. It will be noted that this element is positiond transverselyof and directly beneath the. lead screw G and that it is provided withteeth 70 formed therein and in meshing engagement with the threads ofthe screw, the screw threads thereby forming akrack engaged by theelement. A knurled knob 7l is frictionally mounted on the head 68, theinner portion of the knob being provided thereon with a pair of indiciaor graduations 72 180 apart and adapted to cooperate with an indieium 73on the carriage. While I have illustrated only two indicia marks 72 onthe knob, it w1ll be understood that other numclement 67 to a positionto register one of its graduations 72 with the mark 7 3 on the carriage.The feeding and cutting operation is now started, the tool heiligengaged with the work and the carriage being fed therealong by therotation of the screw 6; It should be noted that as the carriage is fedalong-by the rotation of the screw, the element 6T acts merely as a nuton the rotating screw and therefore does not rotate.

At. the end of the cutting operation the feed is stopped by stopping therotation of the screw in theusual manner. The nut'elements are nowdisconnected from the screw and the carriage manually returnd byrotating the hand wheel 25. rIhe screw is idle during this traversing'movement and acts as a rack to rotate the elements G7 and knob 71 as thecarriage moves therealong. Since the number of teeth 70`are a multipleof the graduations on the knob 7l,- the nut elements 4t2 and 43 willalways be in a screw meshing position whenevel` one of the graduations72 registers with the mark 7 3, it being understood that the knob isoriginally set' with such graduations in registry. The carriage isquickly returned to approximately its initial starting position and whenone of the graduations 72 is in registry with the mark 73, the nutelements may be readily re-engaged with the screw.

It should be particularly noted that the frictional mounting of the knob71 on the element 67 provides means whereby tne knob may at any time beadjusted to a desired position of registry. It should fur'- thermore beunderstood that the element 67 rotates only when the screw is stationaryand the carriage is being moved therealong, the element act-ing therebyto indicate the nut and screw meshing positions of the carriage wheneverthe carriage is disengaged from the screw.

`What I claim is:

l. In a lathe, the combination of a tool carriage, a feed shaft, a feedscrew, mechanism comprising a clutch for moving thecarriagelongitudinallyupon rotation of the feed shaft, mechanismcomprising a nut for engaging the screw to move the carriagelongitudinally, interlocking means between the said two mechanismscomprising a rod,

and means operatively connecting the rod with one of the said mechanismswhereby the rod is moved in two directions thereby, the operativeconnection between the two mechanisms and the rod being such that thenut and clutch can not be in the operative engaged positionsimultaneously. y

-, 2. In a lathe, the combination of a tool carriage, a feed shaft, afeed screw, mechanism comprising al clutch for moving the carriagelongitudinally upon rotation of the feed shaft, mechanism comprising anurI for engaging the screw to move .the carriage longitudinally,interlocking means between the said two mechanisms comprising alongitudinally slidable rod, means operatively connecting the rod withthe nut mechanism whereby the rod is moved longitudinally in bothdirections thereby, and means adapted to be moved by the red into andout of engagement with the clutch, the operative connection between thetwo mechanisms aud the rod being such that the nut and clutch cannot bein the operative'engaged position simultaneously.

3. In a lathe, the combination of a tool carriage, a feed shaft, a feedscrew, mechanism comprising a clutch for moving the carriagelongitudinally upon rotation of the feed shaft, mechanism comprising anut for engaging the screw to move the carriage longitudinally, andinterlocking means between the said two mechanisms comprising alongitudinally slidable rod extending transversely of the clutch axis,and an inclined slot and pin connection between the nut mechanism androd whereby the rod is moved longitudinally in both directions by themovement of the nut mechanism, the operative connection between the twomechanisms and the rod being such that the nut and clutch cannot be inthe operative engaged position,y simultaneously.

4. In a lathe, the combination of a tool carriage, a feed shaft, a feedscrew, me'chanism comprising a clutch for moving the carriagelongitudinally upon rotation of the feed shaft, mechanism comprising anut for engaging the screws7 to move the carriage f' longitudinally,interlocking means between the said two mechanisms comprising alongitudinally slidable rod extending transversely of the clutch axis,the clutch having an annular groove extending tlierearound, and means outhe rod adapted to be moved into and out of the groove, the operativeconnection-between the two mechanisms and the rod being such that thenut cannot be gaging the rack, an operative connection between the feedshaft and pinion shaft, and a clutch on the pinion shaft 'whereby thepinion may be disengaged from its shaft when desired.

6. In a lathe, the combination of a tool carriage and apron mechanism, arpair of spaced reservoirs formed in the body portion. of the carriage,a duct formed in the body portion of the carriage and apron mechanism incommunication with both reservoirs, one reservoir being provided with afiller hole andthe other 1eservoir.with an overflow hole, and aplurality of ducts formed in the body portion of the apron inconm'lunication with the first named duct and extending to the sha-ftbearings in the apron.

7. In a lathe, the combination of a tool carriage and apron mechanism, apair of spaced reservoirs formed `in the body portion of the carriageadjacent each end thereof, a horizontal duct formed in the body portionof the apron and extending longitudinally of the carriage incommunication with both reservoirs, one reservoir being provided with afiller hole and the other reservoir with an overflow hole, and aplurality of ducts formed in the body portion of th'e apron incommunication with the first named duct and extending to the shaftbearings in the apron.

8. Ina lathe, the combination of a tool carriage and apron mechanism, anoil reservoir formed in the body portion thereof, a plurality ofbearings in thea ron, the apron being formed with substantiallyvertically extending integral ribs thereon over the bearings, and duetsformed in the body portion of the apron within the said ribs to provideeomnmnication from the reservoir to the bearings iii-the apron.

In testimony whereof, I hereto ailix my signature. v

WALTER E. INGHAM.

